I recently read an interesting quote, which got me thinking about identity in a slightly different way.

Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.

I thought this was interesting because I had always described work I do on my identity as a way of finding myself, but I think that creating myself is a much more accurate description.

Some events in your life are pre-determined, you have no control over them. But you have the freedom to create the identity you want. There will be parts in your identity that are beyond your control, such as your illness, but you can decide how you perceive these, and what other parts of your identity you include to balance out the negatives.

Think about your identity like a piece of art, of which you are the artist. You have control over how the artwork turns out, what is included, what is excluded, and how these things interact.

What does this quote mean to you? Do you treat your identity like a piece of art?